


A Proposal

by greyvvardenfell



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dialogue Heavy, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 03:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11004834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/greyvvardenfell
Summary: Reyja Brosca rejected Zevran's earring at first, wanting more. After rescuing her from Fort Drakon and realizing how empty his life would be without her, Zevran is ready to offer it to her again.





	A Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rough version of Zev's proposal scene from a massive, massive fic between these two I'm working on. But I'm getting my Zevran tattoo today, so I thought I'd post it anyway to celebrate!

Zevran was waiting for me in my room after I spoke with Anora in hers, pacing nervously in front of the fire, his fingers rolling something small across his palm as he walked. Though he had just rescued me from Fort Drakon almost single-handedly, the memory of him refusing my company the week before still loomed starkly in my mind. He had been so angry, so suddenly… I didn’t know where we stood anymore. But that he was here had to mean something, and that he looked so careworn, so anxious, meant something else entirely. I felt his nerves like electric sparks and knew that whatever he wanted to say would change our relationship as irrevocably as our first night together had, all those months ago. But for better or worse, I didn’t know. He stopped in his tracks as I entered the room and slung my sword off of my shoulders, leaning it against the wall and avoiding his piercing gaze.

“I didn’t think you were going to be here,” I said cautiously.

“I…” he trailed off and was quiet for a long moment. I could have grabbed a handful of the tension between us had I reached for it. “I am so sorry, Reyja,” he finally said, crossing the room in quick strides to embrace me. His voice was thick with emotion. “I almost lost you again, and I-- I could not bear that.”

I stayed wrapped in his arms for several heartbeats, relief loosening my muscles. _He did want me!_ But I could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and he didn’t seem any more relaxed than he had when I walked in. I pulled back to look at him. “Are you alright? You seem upset.”

He swallowed and looked into my eyes, his brow furrowed. “Yes, I am fine. I have been thinking. About us.”

I frowned. “Is that good?” He tried to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. He grabbed my hand and guided me towards the chairs in front of the fire, settled me in one and took the other himself. He set whatever he had been holding on the end table at his side.

“I have been putting off saying this to you for a long time,” he began carefully, staring into the crackling flames. “I did not know what to say, really. But… I have been acting like a child, and I apologize.” He stopped and took a deep breath, then transferred his gaze to me. “An assassin must learn to forget about sentiment. It is dangerous. You take your pleasures where you can, when life is good. To expect anything more would be reckless.” He glanced away, then back. “I thought it was the same between us. Something to enjoy, a pleasant diversion from your task and no less than you deserved, but…” He shook his head and sat back in the chair, frowning, then looked at me meaningfully, willing me to understand without him having to say it.

I thought about all he had done for me, all I had done for him, the ways he had made me feel: safe, accepted, protected. Loved. I thought I knew what he meant. “Are you saying…” I bit my lip, almost afraid to say the word. But I couldn’t deny what I felt, what I hoped he felt. “Are you saying you’re in love with me?”

His jaw clenched, but not in anger. He leaned towards me and took my hand. “I don’t know,” he said to my fingers as he stroked them absently. “How would you know such a thing?” He folded my hand into his and looked up at me suddenly. “I grew up amongst those who sold the illusion of love, and then I was trained to make my heart cold in favor of the kill. Everything that I have been taught, everything that I have known up until now, says that what I feel is wrong.” He reached up to stroke my hair away from my eyes and his gaze softened. “And yet I cannot help it. But when you asked me to your bed again, it frightened me. What I felt. Since then, I have been nothing but confused. I have never felt such… I never knew that it would… ah, _mierda_ , I don’t know!” He turned away, frustrated with himself, but kept my hand clasped tightly in his. “I never thought I could choose a life for myself, one that was not ruled by the Crows. But when I look at you,” he said, meeting my eyes again. I felt tears welling in them, but tried to blink them away. “I see a future I never imagined. I do not have the words for it, but… do you understand me at all?”

I swallowed hard. “I’m no wiser than you in that area, Zev. I’ve never felt anything like this either.”

“All I need to know is if there is a future for us, some possibility of… I do not know what.”

I smiled. That I did have an answer for. “I hope so.”

The relief that spilled from his eyes, from his beaming grin, washed over me like sunlight. He looked like he wanted to kiss me, but instead he turned aside and picked up the small item he had set on the table before we started talking. “I still have the earring,” he said slowly, turning it in his hands. In the flickering light of the fire, I couldn’t quite tell, but I could have sworn he was blushing. “I would like to give it to you. As -- as a token of affection. Will you take it?” He held out his hand, the jeweled earring glittering on his palm in the firelight.

I hesitated, swallowing again and praying that I wasn’t misreading this. “Is that a proposal?” I asked quietly.

He lifted his eyebrows hopefully. “Only if you wish it,” he said, too quickly. As always, he was giving me an out. His proffered hand twitched, almost as if he wanted to snatch the earring away and with it this new vulnerability, but he didn’t.

I glanced into the flames, only for a moment, seeing a future I hadn’t dared hope for in their orange shadows: the two of us, when this was all over, walking foreign roads or living quietly in the city or setting sail across the distant sea… in love, regardless. Together. I knew my answer already. “I’ll take it,” I said, eyes flitting back to his.

He let out the breath he had been holding in a rush of air and shifted out of his seat to kneel before me. The look on his face was so tender, so full of love, a look he had only ever shown and would only ever show to me. He pressed the earring into my palm, closing my fingers around it. “Then that is enough for me,” he said, his voice soft. He spoke to my hand, clasped now in both of his. “I am sorry, for acting so strangely. I think I will be better now.” He raised our hands to his lips, kissed them, smiled at me. “Much better.”

I grinned back, my heart full of love. I tugged my hand free of his and lifted his face up to mine, kissing him gently. He steadied himself on the armrest of my chair with a laugh and curled his other hand behind my head, caressing my neck.

“Will you do the honors?” I asked him breathlessly, breaking our kiss and passing the earring back to him. “In my left ear, top piercing, please.” I turned my head towards him and pushed my hair back.

He grinned, his nimble fingers removing the old silver ring that already dangled from the curve of my upper ear and replacing it with his jeweled token. “Beautiful,” he whispered as he finished, drawing back but letting the ring rest on his fingertip so it sparkled in the firelight.

I looked into his golden eyes. “I love you, Zevran.”

He pulled me up from the chair into his arms with the same tender smile he had given me earlier. “And I, you, Reyja, my dear Warden.”


End file.
